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Archive for the ‘Investment Executive’ Category

My “Letter from Calgary” column from the mid-November 2013 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: The low price of natural gas is having a dire impact on Alberta. The introduction of LNG plants may change that To those familiar with the jargon of natural gas pricing, the investment research report’s statement was jolting: “AECO Price [...]

The original, slightly longer version of my Letter from Calgary column in the October 2013 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: Improved technology and more efficiency mean North America could eventually become an oil exporter Does anyone remember Peak Oil theory? With Canadian and U.S. oil production booming enough to lift worldwide oil production, the [...]

My “Letter from Calgary” column from the mid-October 2012 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: JOE OLIVER, THE FEDERAL NATURal resources minister, has been showing a better understanding of Alberta’s interests than Alberta’s premier herself. Alison Redford’s continuous but uninformed urgings for a national energy strategy – sounding like fingernails on chalkboard to Albertans of [...]

My “Letter from Calgary” column from the December 2012 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: Canada should resist the overtures of gigantic, state-owned oil companies. Every time a state-owned oil company buys a Canadian energy producer, a little part of Alberta’s oilpatch dies. It’s true that Calgary’s head office set, especially the finance and investment banking [...]

My Letter from Calgary column from the February 2013 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: Oil producers are turning to the railway as an alternative to expensive pipelines Alberta’s oil and natural gas industry is nothing if not adaptable. Huge technical risks, geographical and weather challenges, fickle capital markets, shifting regulations and taxes, and, of course, [...]

My Letter from Calgary column from the July 2013 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: B.C.’s opposition to Northern Gateway borders on the bizarre Just over two weeks after the Liberals’ upset triumph in the British Columbia election, the province’s government officially came out against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. A cynic might have expected [...]

My “Letter from Calgary” column in the April 2013 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: Alberta says it’s cutting back. But the numbers tell a different story George Orwell had contempt for euphemism. As he wrote in “Politics and the English Language,” his great essay from 1946: “In our time, political speech and writing are largely [...]

My “Letter from Calgary” column from the mid-October 2011 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper: High-profile figures such as Manning and Lougheed are weighing in on a new oil and gas development. They should let well enough alone The technocrats are at it again. Experienced people of high standing and nominally conservative bent are annoyed [...]

My “Letter from Calgary” column from the February 2011 issue of the Investment Executive newspaper of Toronto: Intermediate exploration and production companies dangle the promise of cash yield with capital appreciation It was barely five years ago that royalty trusts dominated the energy industry and the consciousness of energy-focused investors. The trusts’ tax-free yield had made [...]

My “Letter from Calgary” column from the mid-November issue of Investment Executive magazine. Here’s the link to the published version. Alberta’s 2007 royalty regime never made sense. Now that it is gone, both oil and gas drilling and land sales are soaring Well, well. Miracles of a sort do occur. Oil and natural gas drilling [...]